UNITED NATIONS– The United Nations Special Representative in Haiti, Helen La Lime, says that despite some signs of progress in ending the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that has worsened across Haiti since the assassination of its president last year, the situation there remains “fraught and highly polarized.”
La Lime, who also heads the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), told the UN Security Council on Friday that there is a need for structural reforms to tackle gang violence, address impunity and corruption, strengthen the justice system, and strengthen the justice system sustainably transform the Haitian economy.
“The contours of a common vision shared by all will ultimately depend on Haitian stakeholders placing the national interest above their aspirations,” she said. “Success will be determined by their collective willingness to compromise.”
The Special Envoy said the relative calm observed on February 7 – the date late President Jovenel Moïse’s term would have officially ended – was a good sign, telling ambassadors that the new Government, unveiled on November 24, appears to have appeased tensions.
And while awaiting a revised electoral calendar, the BINUH chief noted that momentum seems to be building around “an inclusive, credible and effective Provisional Electoral Council.”
Meanwhile, La Lime said gang violence “continues to plunge major urban centers into lawlessness and grief.”
“Criminal armed groups have a stronghold on the economic and social lives of millions,” she said. “Their indiscriminate use of abduction, murder, as well as sexual and gender-based violence, as a means to terrorize local populations in the fight to extend their territorial control is particularly abhorrent.”
La Lime said that although the Haitian National Police have tried to stem the wave of violent crime, the “overstretched, understaffed, and under-resourced police force, cannot on its own curtail the alarming rise in gang-generated insecurity.”
Against this backdrop, the UN and Haitian Government have jointly resolved to strengthen international support, epitomized by the imminent creation of a multi-donor basket fund.
“The gang phenomenon cannot be addressed through policing alone,” said La Lime, elaborating on the need for a law-enforcement approach that incorporates greater control of illegal weapons and is complemented by socio-economic projects and reintegration activities “aimed at generating employment and revenue in the neighborhoods most affected by the scourge of gang violence.”
The UN official commended the Haitian authorities on a national community violence reduction strategy that has, after years of closures, resulted in the reopening of several schools in the Port-au-Prince neighborhoods of Cité Soleil and La Saline.
“These successes offer hope that resolute and coordinated government actions will lead to the provision of additional basic services in these communities, as well as to their extension to other areas,” she said. “Our continued support is crucial to the success of this effort.”
La Lime said Haiti also needs to address the intractable phenomenon of impunity urgently.
She cited the 2020 assassination of Monferrier Dorval, the 2018 massacre in La Saline, and the “ghastly assassination” of President Moïse, whose stalled murder investigation has exacerbated “both suspicion and mistrust within the country.”
The Haitian judicial system suffers from “grave structural weaknesses,” she said, that disabled person the courts’ ability to “investigate, process and try cases.”
La Lime said while modest signs of progress are encouraging, more action is needed for new penal and criminal codes and to ensure that judicial reform can be sustained over the longer term.
The devastating earthquake of last August, which destroyed parts of the Southern Peninsula and killed 2,248 people, has added another layer of difficulty to an already dire humanitarian situation.
“It is now estimated that 4.9 million people, or 43 percent of the country’s population, will need humanitarian assistance in 2022,” La Lime said.
Pointing to Wednesday’s international donors’ conference, she expressed her deep gratitude for US$600 million in pledges for the Integrated Reconstruction Plan to rebuild the heavily damaged areas.
The Special Envoy also said that this month marked three consecutive years without a laboratory-confirmed case of cholera in Haiti, a “watershed moment” representing “a significant step” towards eliminating the disease in the French-speaking Caribbean country.
She credited the “unwavering dedication” of the country’s frontline workers and UN bilateral and multilateral organizations’ partnerships.
“While these collective efforts have succeeded, the lack of impact and effectiveness of development aid requires us to collectively formulate a new approach, one premised on a deeper coordination of international efforts and a real partnership with Haitian authorities and Haitian actors,” La Lime said.
She urged all Haitian leaders to engage constructively with one another to steer the country towards elections and emerge from the “acute political and institutional crisis” in which it has been plunged.
In addition, the envoy urged the international community to continue to engage with the Haitian Government and others to create security and political conditions to hold national elections and ensure structural reforms.
“Now is not the time to let Haiti fall off the agenda,” she stressed.
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